Kawasaki India planning to set up plant in Chakan (Pune)

Kawasaki India planning to set up plant in Chakan (Pune)

As per the latest details available, Kawasaki India will set up its first plant in Chakan, Pune. The split between Bajaj Auto and Kawasaki saw the performance brand pulling out its assembly lines from the Akurdi facility of Bajaj Auto. The launch of KTM Duke turned Bajaj Probiking dealerships into KTM dealerships and hampered the sales of Kawasaki products right from year 2012.

The annual production limit of 10,000 units was purely wasted as Kawasaki could only sell 1400 units in 2016. Their independent plant will help them place the products at even better prices while they could also focus on the expansion of dealerships by around 3040 percent this year. We recently posted that Kawasaki is going to increase the localization and the prices for 300cc and 650cc sport bikes will go down by a considerable margin.

Kawasaki India Planning to Localize 300cc & 650cc Sport Bikes

A recent report in the automotive industry claims that Kawasaki is planning to localize the entry level 300cc and 650cc sport bikes in India. If this comes out to be true, local assembly for Ninja 300, Z650, Ninja 650, and Versys 650 will also be equally feasible for the Japanese brand. The bikes are currently offered through CKD route with least amount of localization and assembled in Pune. Recent report even says that Kawasaki is preparing a vendor base for these products for ease of future operations.

Kawasaki Ninja 300 | Know More

Kawasaki Z250 is currently localized with around 40 percent of components from the Indian sources while Ninja series has only 25-30 percent localization. More localization will definitely mean more affordable price tags in the future.

Kawasaki is one popular brand among middleweight performance motorcycles and getting them at even cheaper prices would wash out the competition in a slow process. If prices for the Ninja 300 comes down by a considerable margin, it will simply sound better than rivals like Yamaha YZF-R3 and KTM RC 390.

Kawasaki Z650 | Know More

The same can be imagined in the case of Z650, Ninja 650 and Versys 650. All of these are the best options in their respective segments and getting them slightly lower from current price tags could attract more buyers with much ease.

Kawasaki got a blow when their partnership with Bajaj Auto suddenly ended on 31 March 2017. Their dealership number fell to just 12 from 300+ locations and thus, resulted in total loss from all sides. This move could help them fetch back those interested buyers as the quality on offer cannot be had from any other source.

Kawasaki Ninja 650 | Know More

“Kawasaki is looking into ways of localizing its  300cc and 650cc twin-cylinder engines in India. They might do so starting with the smaller components, which will eventually lead to more critical parts in near future. The 300cc and 650cc models together account for the bulk sales for the company in India currently,” disclosed a source aware of the plans.

Kawasaki Versys 650 | Know More

Update Source: AutoCarPRO